European policymakers are poised to make a decision that may require technology companies to scan encrypted messages, claiming it would address child abuse material. However this development rekindles a longstanding debate surrounding online privacy and security.
The Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse, often referred to as Chat Control, [1] is a proposed regulation by the European Union, introduced by Ylva Johansson [2] the European Commissioner for Home Affairs. The EU claims the legislation will aim to address online child sexual abuse by implementing various measures, including establishing a legal framework that requires digital platforms within the European Union to detect and report child sexual abuse material. “Detection, reporting and removal of child sexual abuse online is also urgently needed to prevent the sharing of images and videos of the sexual abuse of children, which re-traumatizes the victims often years after the sexual abuse has ended,” said Johansson.
According to the draft law, regulators will have the authority to request that a court order an internet service provider to block access to a website or link containing child sexual abuse material. Andy Burrows, [3] head of child safety online at The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said, “Putting a duty on App Stores to identify children and prevent them from downloading apps where there is a high risk of grooming will focus company minds on ensuring the problem is tackled on their platforms.” The latest effort follows earlier initiatives by the EU Council to advance contentious online child protection legislation that encountered significant resistance and delays. The proposed legislation would require technology companies to implement scanning technologies on devices to inspect messages, images, and videos prior to encryption. Additionally, artificial intelligence and machine learning systems would be employed to identify previously unknown abusive material.
However, the legislation is facing pushback from privacy activists with critics claiming it would lead to the proposed initiative could result in the monitoring of private conversations for billions of individuals. Thorin Klosowski [4] a security and privacy activist said in his column [5] for The Electronic Frontier Foundation titled Chat Control Is Back on the Menu in the EU. It Still Must Be Stopped, “Chat Control is a dangerous legislative proposal that would make it mandatory for service providers, including end-to-end encrypted communication and storage services, to scan all communications and files to detect ‘abusive material.’ This would happen through a method called client-side scanning, which scans for specific content on a device before it’s sent. In practice, Chat Control is chat surveillance and functions by having access to everything on a device with indiscriminate monitoring of everything.”
Thorin Klosowski also believes the approval of this proposal could signal a troubling trend, empowering authoritarian and oppressive regimes globally to pursue similar ambitions for control over encrypted communication applications. “This doesn’t just affect people in the EU, it affects everyone around the world, including in the United States. If platforms decide to stay in the EU, they would be forced to scan the conversation of everyone in the EU. If you’re not in the EU, but you chat with someone who is, then your privacy is compromised too. Passing this proposal would pave the way for authoritarian and tyrannical governments around the world to follow suit with their own demands for access to encrypted communication apps.” Signal [6] an encrypted messaging service, utilized by governments, businesses, and the public for secure communications, have cautioned that [7] the introduction of new legislation undermines the fundamental purpose of encryption.
Udbhav Tiwari, [8] who is the VP of Strategy and Global Affairs at Signal have stated that if the proposals were enacted into law, they would create significant vulnerabilities in the operating systems utilized on phones and computers. “Malicious actors will start using this capability to gain access that would simply be unthinkable for them under the current security paradigms of how operating systems have been implemented,” said Tiwari. “You can imagine, if an intelligence agency wants to make sure that its servers and services don’t have this technology, the CEO of a multibillion-dollar company probably doesn’t want its C suite to be susceptible to the same risks.”
Signal has also threatened [9] to leave the European market if the EU introduces Chat Control, Meredith Whittaker who [10] is President of the Signal Foundation said, “If we were given the choice of either undermining the integrity of our encryption and our data protection guarantees or leaving Europe, we would unfortunately decide to leave the market, It guarantees the privacy of millions upon millions of people around the world, often in life-threatening situations as well. Unfortunately, politicians continue to fall prey to a kind of magical thinking that assumes you can create a backdoor that only the good have access to. But ultimately, we’d be leaving the market before having to comply with dangerous laws like these.”
Fight Chat Control [11] a citizen-led initiative aimed at increasing awareness of the European Union's proposed Chat Control regulation, states the proposal aims to require the scanning of all private digital communications, encompassing encrypted messages and photos. It also raises concerns regarding implication for privacy rights and digital security for all EU citizens. Another organisation Stop Chat Control has also warned that a widespread monitoring of people’s digital communications [12] resembles practices seen in China rather than upholding European values.
Moritz Körner, [13] a Member of the European Parliament said, “Commission President Von der Leyen’s planned chat control is a Big Brother agency that would monitor EU citizens’ private communications. We must prevent this massive state surveillance.” Franziska Brandmann [14] who is the Federal Chair of the Young Liberals Germany also said, “Chat control is dangerous for us as it threatens our privacy and freedom of expression. Through the monitoring and censorship of our online communication, we are restricted in our freedom to form opinions. It also opens the door to abuse and manipulation by governments and authoritarian organizations. It is important that we defend our rights to privacy and freedom of expression in order to maintain an open and democratic society.”